Them Darn Socks!

I darned socks! I really darned them! And it's about time. I have been putting this task off for almost a year (sorry, Jess!) for fear of failure or hardship. Now, I have finally conquered the beast! It is truly a satisfying thing to make your own socks; to transform them from a ball of yarn to warm woolly feet covers. But it is an entirely new level of satisfaction to mend those handmade objects when they start to wear out. These socks will rise again!!! 

I used a wonderful tutorial at HJS Studio. The concept was easy enough to grasp but it took some practice to master the row turns and to figure out how to create stitches that were no longer there*. The threaded guidelines really did help. I had neither a darning egg nor a light bulb to place behind the hole so I just used a rounded hairspray bottle. Whatever works!

I am very pleased with how they turned out. The darning isn't exactly invisible, but I think it adds character and is a testament to how well-used these socks are (or how sharp the owner's heals are!). It works so well I am tempted to duplicate stitch the entire bottom of the sock to save the trouble of patching the holes later. Can't stop me now! I'm a darning fool!

*Word of advice: If you see the beginning of a hole in your beloved knitwear- STOP!- take off the knitted object and darn that hole before things get out of hand! It is much easier to darn a thinning patch in a sweater or sock than to recreate stitches from a hole that is five stitches wide and four rows deep. Trust me!